President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that Ukrainian troops had captured two Chinese citizens fighting alongside Russian forces, adding Kyiv would demand an explanation from Beijing and a reaction from its allies.
“Our military captured two Chinese citizens who fought in the Russian army. This happened on the territory of Ukraine – in the Donetsk region,” Zelensky said in a post on social media.
“We have the documents of these prisoners, bank cards, and personal data,” Zelensky said in a post that included a video of one of the alleged Chinese prisoners.
The video showed a man wearing military fatigues with his hands bound, mimicking sounds from combat and uttering a small number of words in Mandarin, during an apparent interview with a Ukrainian official not pictured.
At one point he is heard saying the word “commander”.
A senior Ukrainian official said the prisoners were probably Chinese citizens who were enticed into signing a contract with the Russian army, rather than being sent by Beijing. They were captured “a few days ago”, the source said, adding there may be more of them.